Clip for paper-back laths



March 28, 1939. H. H. EADES .CLIP FOR PAPER-BACK LATHS Filed June '7, 1 958 III'I l I l I INVENTOR 64 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 28, 1939 ATENT OFFlCE CLIP FOR PAPER-BACK LA'IHS Harry H. Eases, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application June 7, 1938, Serial No. 212,224

Claims.

This invention relates to a new and useful clip for fastening laths, particularly paper-back laths, to steel furring bars or channels.

Heretoiore, various wire clips have been sug- 5; gested for supporting and tying on paper-back metal reinforced laths upon furring channels on ceilings or on side walls. However, these clips have had serious disadvantages which have often resulted in ineffiicent application of the lath no; sheets and Which have slowed up the application of the lath. For example, the clips have not been adjustable in length and certain of them have required both ends to be hooked over the furring channel, which operation is blind so far as in". applicator is concerned. Other clips having only one end hooked over the furring channel, would dangle in place "and possibly become unhooked unless the applicator held the clip in position while preparing to insert the next successive clip 20 having locking means to lock the free end of the first clip.

Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide a simple and inexpensive clip which will hold sheets of the lath snugly against the furring channels under tension.

' A further object of the invention is the provision of a clip which is'adjustable as to length.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a wire clip formed with a visible locking 3o; loop at one end thereof through which an end of the next successive clip can be inserted and positiveiy locked in place, thus providing a series of successive interlocked clips, assuring a positive and firm positioning of the lath.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a wire clip such as described which can be easily and conveniently mounted in place for supporting paper-back metal reinforced laths, and which before it is interlocked with its next 40* successive clip, can be temporarily positioned by forcing a loop-shaped projection intermediate its length under portions of the metal reinforcing of the paper lath, thus freeing both hands of the applicator, and tending to speed up the appli- 45 cation of the laths.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a wire clip which is extremely convenientin the so-called spotting or preliminary positioning of the laths due to the fact that one 50: end only of the clip need be applied to a furring channel, the clip being temporarily positioned by inserting an adjustable loop portion interme diate its ends under the metal reinforcing of the lath.

These andvarious other objects, and advantages will be readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing of a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective viewlooking upwards at a fragment of a paper-back metal reinforced lath positioned upon a ceiling furring channel by a series of clips embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially upon the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a ceiling perspective view of a single clip and a fragment of a channel support shown in their relative positions for purposes of clarity.

In these figures, apaper-back metal reinforced lath I6 is illustrated as having V-shaped ribs I2,

metal rods M running transverse to the said ribs 7 and paper backing I6. The lath Ill illustrated is now being sold under the trade-mark Ecod and there are various other laths obtainable of somewhat generally similar structure. The lath I0 is generally marketed in strips about eight feet long and about two and one-half feet wide and will ordinarily form a plaster backer for ceilings and side walls by being clipped to furring channels such as -U-shaped furring channels l8 shown in the drawing.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, this general type of paper-back metal reinforced lath ID will ordinarily be formed with its paper it in a series of rolling corrugations forming alternate transverse grooves and ridges 22, the metal stiffening Wires or rods l4 running longitudinally of the lath it through the ridges 22, thereby leaving spaces indicated as 24 between the rods l4 and the bottoms indicated as 26 of grooves 23.

My new and improved clip indicated generally as 28 will normally be formed integrally from a single piece of relatively stifi but manually deformable wire and will have a shank portion 30 having two parts 32 and'33 lying in a straight line and an expansible loop indicated as 34 intermediate the said parts 32 and 33, the said parts 32, 33 and loop 34 ordinarily lying in a single plane, which when the clip 28 is in position will be substantially parallel to the general plane of latch Ill. As indicated, expansible loop 34 is preferably formed in an inverted V-shape.

A visible turn-back or locking loop 36 is formed at one end of clip 28 which will normally lie in the same plane as expansible loop 34 and at the other end of clip 28 is formed a hooking member 38 adapted to be hooked over and to encompass portions of channel members l8 as clearly illustrated in the figures. The hooking member 38 in its preferred form as shown, will generally be formed with a leg member 40 which is perpendicular to shank part 32, a transverse leg member 42 which is formed at right angles to leg member 40 and which is substantially parallel to loop 34 and a relatively short locking leg member 44 formed at right angles to transverse leg 42 and substantially parallel to leg member 40; all the leg members 40, 42 and 44, will ordinarily lie in a single plane which is perpendicular to the plane in which expansible loop 34 and locking loop 36 lie.

In the perspective figure, the lath Ill is shown as being mounted in its ceiling position and it is usual for two men to take a sheet of the lath [3, place it in its approximate position and then spot the same to its approximate position, temporarily holding the same there with four or five temporary fastening means. By virtue of my new and improved clip 28, in spotting, each man can hold one end of the sheet of lath ill by one hand and with theother insert locking leg member 34 of clip 28 through paper l6, twisting the clip around until hook member 38 is hooked over channel 18 in the positionillustrated in Fig. 2, and then insert expansible loop 34 into any convenient space 24 in grooves 20 between the rods 14 and the bottoms 28 of grooves 20; the operation of inserting the clip and locking the same with its loop 34 under rod 14, in a one-handed operation and can be done easily and conveniently and will normally tension lath Ill against channel member l8 because expansible loop member 34 will ordinarily be forced slightly out of its normal plane under tension underneath one or more of the rods l4, This clearly facilitates the preliminary spotting" or positioning of the lath.

When the sheet of lath I is in proper position, a longitudinally interlocked series of clips 28, as illustrated in Fig. 1, will be placed in position bya hooking operation similar to the preliminary spotting operation, with the exception that after a clip 28 has been positioned with its loop 34 placed under one or more of the rods 14 under tension, the next successive clip 28A will be positioned with its hooking member 38 interlocked with locking loop 36 of the preceding clip 28, which locking loop 36 can be bent back upon itself by a pair of pliers, as indicated in Fig. 1, to give a positive look. When various sheets of the lath ID are joined together with some overlap, it will be recognized that the clips 28, being adjustable by virtue of the expansible loop 34 can be lengthened so that they can always be positioned in an appropriate groove 20 under rods 24. By varying the arrangement of the hooking member 38, particularly the length of leg member 40, it will be recognized that considerable tension or pressure can be exerted against lath III by shank 30 of the clips 28.

It will be recognized that the sheets of lath Hi When tied one to another and to the channels l8 by clips 28 will form a plaster backing surface substantially unitary in character which is independent of expansion or conntraction movements of channels l8.

It is to be understood that while the illustrated form of the invention which I have described, represents a preferred embodiment, I do not wish to limit myself to the details as shown since it is obvious that the same may be considerably varied without departing from the spirit of the invention; also it will be apparent that expansible and adjustable clips of this general nature with expansible loops and visible locking loops would efiiciently serve to position various plaster boards, having holes cut therein, or to position various expanded metal laths, the adjustability of the length of the clip being animportant element of my invention; also it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that while the precise form of the hooking member 38 illustrated aids in firmly and non-rotatably positioning the clip, that various modifications of hooking member 38 can be made, including a reversal of parts and including having leg member 40 and expansible loop member 34 on opposite sides of shank part 32, although maintaining their parallel relation, and also including forming the hooking member so that it will fit over a round furring bar, without avoiding the essence of my invention as defined and claimed in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An integral readily deformable wire clip for mounting and maintaining sheet laths in position upon furring bars which includes an elongated shank portion, an expansible loop formed intermediate the ends of said shank portion and lying in a single plane, a hook shaped member for hooking over the furring bar, formed at an end of said shank member lying in a single plane which is perpendicular to the plane of said loop and a turn-back portion formed at the other end of said shank portion forming an open locking loop.

2. An integral readily deformable wire clip for mounting and maintaining sheet laths in position upon furring bars which includes an elongated shank portion, an expansible loop formed intermediate the ends of said shank portion and lying in a single plane, a hook shaped member for booking over the furring bar, formed at an end of said shank member lying in a single plane which is perpendicular to the plane of said loop and a turn-back portion formed at the other end of said shank portion forming an open looking loop, said hook shaped member including a leg member perpendicular to said shank member, a transverse leg member perpendicular to said first leg member and parallel to the plane of said expansible loop and a short locking leg member parallel to said first leg member.

3. An integral readily deformable wire clip for mounting and maintaining paper metal reinforced sheet laths in position upon furring bars which includes an elongated shank portion, an expansible loop formed intermediate the ends of said shank portion and lying in a single plane, a hook shaped member for hooking over the furring bar formed at an end ,of said shank member lying in a single plane which is perpendicular to the plane of said loop and a turn-back portion formed at the other end of said shank portion forming an open locking loop, said locking loop lying generally in the same plane as said expansible loop.

4. An integral readily deformable wire clip for mounting and maintaining paper metal reinforced sheet laths in position upon furring bars which includes an elongated shank portion, an expansible loop formed intermediate the ends of said shank portion and lying in a single plane, a hook shaped member for hooking over the furring bar formed at an end of said shank member lying in a single plane which is perpendicuexpansible loop, said hook shaped member including a leg member perpendicular to said shank member, a transverse leg member perpendicu lar to said first leg member and parallel to the plane of said expansible loop and a short locking leg member parallel to said first leg member.

5. An integral readily deformable wire clip for mounting and maintaining paper metal reinforced sheet laths in position upon furring bars which includes an elongated shank portion, an expansible loop of an inverted V-shape formed intermediate the ends of said shank portion and lying in a single plane, a hook shaped member for hooking over the furring bar formed at an end of said shank member lying in a single plane which is perpendicular to the plane of said loop and a turn-back portion formed at the other end of said shank portion forming an open looking loop, said locking loop lying generally in the same plane as said expansible loop, said hook shaped member including a leg member perpendicular to said shank member, a transverse leg member perpendicular to said first leg member and parallel to the plane of said expansible loop and a short locking leg member parallel to said first leg member.

HARRY H. EADES. 

